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Chick-fil-A to roll out new spicy chicken sandwiches in Palm Beach and Martin counties

Chick-fil-A is rolling out a new spicy chicken sandwich at all its stores beginning in June.

The new spicy chicken sandwich

But Palm Beach County and Martin residents have a chance to grab a FREE sneak peek of the new sandwich next week.

Chick-fil-A is using this area as a test site for a new technology that allows franchisees to invite loyal customers with invites to special events at the restaurants.

A select number of Chick-fil-A fans here in South Florida received an e-mail this week inviting them to sign up for a time to get a free spicy chicken sandwich next week.

The new "deluxe" spicy chicken sandwich

In addition, people who didn’t get the e-mail also have an option to reserve a free sandwich: all they have to do is go to getspicychicken.com and sign up for a time with their closest Chick-fil-A location.

“This is a market we’re trying to expand in,” said Chick-fil-A spokesman Mark Baldwin. “We’re really trying to grow our brand in South Florida, and, based on demographics, this area probably likes spicy food.”

Baldwin challenged customers to compare their new sandwich to Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich, saying that he believes it will be the biggest competitor to their sandwich.

Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich

The fact that Chick-fil-A is even adding a new item to its menu is significant. The company “follows a philosophy of ‘menu permanence’ in which it shies from adding and removing items from the menu for fear of disappointing customers,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Baldwin acknowledged that the fast-food chain doesn’t often add items to its menu because “we don’t like taking things off the menu,” he said. But he said a spicy chicken sandwich has been the no. 1 requested product in the last decade; another oft-requested item was the milkshake, which was added to the lineup in 2006.

Chick-fil-A took its time rolling out the new item. It started testing the spicy sandwich in January 2008 in Jacksonville and Baltimore. In the spring of 2009, it expanded the tests to stores in California.

As part of the rollout, stores had to install new fryers and rearrange their kitchen lineups. “You can’t put the original sandwich in the same fryer as the spicy chicken sandwich,” Baldwin explained. “The flavor profile will cross over.”

There are two versions of the spicy chicken sandwich: the original, which comes with the usual buttered bun and “two crucial pickle chips,” and a deluxe version that comes with lettuce, tomato and pepperjack cheese.

” Our Spicy Sandwich is intended for people who enjoy spicy foods and it truly has a kick,” Baldwin said. “That said, you can ‘cool down’ the sandwich by adding ranch dressing or even lettuce and tomato to it. Or, if you want an even hotter sandwich, you can add Pepper Jack cheese or our buffalo sauce to it.”

Baldwin said he’d get back with me regarding prices of these sandwiches, and added they are slightly more expensive than the original chicken sandwiches.

UPDATE: Baldwin said the prices are: $3.15 for the regular Spicy Chicken Sandwich and $3.75 for the Deluxe version.

The new spicy sandwich is already garnering interest among Chick-fil-A fans in our area. (Baldwin said he was surprised that we’d heard about this local promotion already.)

UPDATE: Thanks to a commenter for asking questions about the calorie count. According to Baldwin:
Regular Version = 450 calories, 17 g of fat and 0 trans fat
Deluxe Version = 540 calories, 23 g of fat and 0 trans fat

Will you be trying out the new sandwich next week? Post a comment and let us know.

Also, stay tuned: we’ll be trying out the sandwich later this week here in our newsroom, and I’ll be out at a local Chick-fil-A next week to find out how the sandwich is going over with Palm Beach and Martin county residents.